Formula to Happiness

THE PREFACE

Over the years I have learned the formula to achieving happiness. However just as in math knowing the formula is only half the battle. It's an entirely different story when you actually have to apply the formula to actually solving the real world problem (equation). I should know, seeing as how I always struggled in math class. The majority of the time I was able to completely understand how the formula worked, however I would always miss a step along the way. I wouldn't carry the negative sign, or I would go to fast and make careless mistakes which led to me coming up with the incorrect answer.

In my pursuit for happiness I often face the same problems with receiving the correct answer, which in this case is happiness. In other words, by me "claiming" to have the formula to happiness does not in any way mean that I am ALWAYS happy.

THE FORMULA

I firmly believe that ALL people regardless of race, color, religion, or nationality have a personal set of morals and ethics in which they set for themselves as a standard "code of conduct". For many people religion, culture, family, and other outside forces influence this moral code of standards. In many cases it is almost sub consciously imbedded into their system. Meaning that for the majority of people it takes a lot of soul searching before we are able to realize what ours is. This is the first obstacle in being able to find the answer in the equation of our own happiness. Up until the point where we are able to learn this moral and ethical code of conduct it remains the "x" in our formula.

CREATING ESCAPES

A lot of our lives are spent trying to figure this out. I call this soul searching process "escapes." What I mean by this is that we all find aspects of our lives that if we escape them it will equal happiness. Let me use a personal example as to what I mean by this. In the beginning of my mission for the LDS church in Brazil I went through some very difficult and frustrating times. I was in a foreign country without any family or friends. I didn't speak or comprehend the native language and I was 19 years old. So in the beginning I remember thinking, well once I know the language this will be easy and I will be happy. Once I learned the language I only became aware of more issues, and obstacles. So then I began to search for a new escape. I continued down this path until finally it dawned on me that none of those things bring happiness. In fact the absence of obstacles, stress, and tribulation does not equal happiness. Alot of times that is our first mistake. We see all of these stresses in our life, and we begin to think, if only I was able to rid myself of these stresses I would find myself FREE of stress thus resulting in happiness. This is a very destructive path, mainly because the only way anyone can experience growth and edification is through overcoming trials and obstacles in their lives, but that in itself can and should be reserved for it's own post.

MOVING FORWARD

Once we are able to comprehend that escaping what is bringing stress into our lives like, the lack of money, lack of friends, lack of family, lack of a job, etc... will bring about happiness. We are finally able to make some progress through this formula. We are then able to understand that only ONE person is in charge of our happiness. In fact only ONE "thing" is in charge of our happiness. We are the only ones who decide weather or not we are going to be happy. Regardless of circumstance happiness can be achieved. This does not mean to say that the pursuit to happiness is as easy for everyone, however "easy" or "hard" in itself is a relative term and is highly based on personal perception.

The only true way to find happiness is by living up to your own personal moral and ethical code of conduct inwhich we have all set for ourselves. Everyone's morals and ethics differ, so there is no RIGHT answer. However when you you don't meet your own expectations then you don't love yourself. If you don't love yourself you also are unable to comprehend or allow others to love you. Love is important because love is what brings about happiness. However when I use the word love I mean love in it's purest form. The love I speak of is synonymous with the word charity. So the best definition I can find is in the bible which says:

Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in ainiquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth

1 Corinthians 13

*I find it important to note, that in the Brazilian Bible they interpreted the word charity as the word love. Which is more proof as to how perhaps love and charity are really the same word, but their definitions have become lost in time by man.

IN CLOSING

Please note that at the time of writing this post I am only 29 years old, and in my meager 29 years of pursuing happiness this is what I have learned and began applying to my daily life. I always find when I am unhappy it is almost ALWAYS in direct relation to how well I am doing in meeting my own personal moral and ethical code of conduct. So by going through the necessary steps to repair my own relationship with myself through forgiveness I am able to once again be on the pathway to happiness once again. So please feel free to add your own beliefs that you have learned along your travails of life.

RELATED:

5 Simple Rules for Happiness

Are You Color Blind?

(The numeral "74" should be clearly visible to viewers with normal color vision. Viewers who are color blind may read it as "21", or may not see numbers at all.)

Hi, my name is Shane and I'm colored blind. I've known this for a number of years now, and have even openly discussed it with some people. I've noticed that a lot of people don't really understand what being color blind REALLY means. There are also a lot of people who are color blind and don't even realize it.

How do you know if you are color blind?

Well it definitely doesn't mean that you see the world as if you were watching a black & white TV. Usually what it means is that you are most likely male.

"About 5–8 percent of males, but less than 1 percent of females, are color blind in some way or another, whether it be one color, a color combination, or another mutation."

The most common form of color blindness is a color blindness to red and green. This doesn't mean that you are unable to see the color red, nor does it mean that you are unable to see the color green. However it does mean you are limited to the amount of tones of red and green you are able to see. It also means when red and green are on top of one another it is difficult to view a contrast between the two. There are three different degrees of this type of color blindness. I fit in the category of Deuteranopia:

"Deuteranopia (1% of males):Lacking the medium-wavelength cones, those affected are again unable to distinguish between colors in the green-yellow-red section of the spectrum. Their neutral point is at a slightly longer wavelength, 498 nm. The deuteranope suffers the same hue discrimination problems as the protanope, but without the abnormal dimming. The names red, orange, yellow, and green really mean very little to him aside from being different names that every one else around him seems to be able to agree on. Similarly, violet, lavender, purple, and blue, seem to be too many names to use logically for hues that all look alike to him. This is one of the rarer forms of colorblindness making up about 1% of the male population, also known as Daltonism after John Dalton. (Dalton's diagnosis was confirmed as deuteranopia in 1995, some 150 years after his death, by DNA analysis of his preserved eyeball.) Deuteranopic unilateral dichromats report that with only their deuteranopic eye open, they see wavelengths below the neutral point as blue and those above it as yellow."

Take a test to see if you are colorblind.

Why All This Color Blind Talk?

Well recently I saw a tweet with a link to this website, WeAreColorBlind.com. Which reminded me of my own colorblindness. So then after googling a couple resources I was wondering how many other people do I know that are also colorblind.

I remember in the 90's (I'm not sure what year exactly) these pictures like the one above became really popular. They were selling books, and framed posters all over the mall and in several different stores. I would go to the dentist and one would be hanging on the wall. Everywhere I went I was always surrounded by them. I always felt weird because I was one of the only people I knew who couldn't see anything but spots. Everyone else was seeing pictures pop out at them when they would stare at these millions of circles. As for me I never saw a thing. It wasn't until several years later when I was out of high school that I realized that those pictures were used for color blind tests. So the reason why I could never see any of the pictures was because I am colorblind.

For more info about color blindness check Wickipedia.

For Sale

living with a Graphic Designer can be a bit tough at times. As many of you have heard we're moving. So as we are cleaning out the apartment we have stumbled upon a few things that we feel deserve a new home (at a small price). So Heather sent me an email yesterday that said;

I want to make a sign and hang it up by the mail box so I can hopefully sell this stuff before we move.

Toastmaster rice cooker/steamer $5
Black cast iron skillet $5
Norelco electric shaver $10 (plug in model, not chargeable)
Box of infant through size 4-5 girl shoes (7 pair) $12
Suade King size comforter with king size pillow shams (tan color) $10
Glass crystal drink pitcher $10
Misc. dinnerware set (incomplete) $5

If you are interested in seeing any of these items please contact Heather or Shane @ 257-1868 or mamaguymon@gmail.com

She said she wanted me to just print her email out here at work because we don't have a printer at home. However being a Graphic Designer I can not physically allow myself to do that. So I asked her to take pictures of all the items she wanted to sell and email them to me. She didn't feel like participating in my madness & in turn released a deep sigh (in an email). So I told her when I got home I'd take the pictures on my own. Today I combined my pictures with the info she sent in the email and this is what you end up with.

Enjoy™

New House

So for all of those who don't follow me on Twitter or Facebook, earlier this month Heather decided she wanted to start looking for a house. I was a bit reluctant because of what happened the last time we decided to check it out. Initially we were pre approved for far more then we wanted to spend, we also got a really good percentage rate of 5.6%. Another great selling point was the fact that right now the government has a First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit. So Heather decided to initially look at houses on her own especially since she is home during the day and I'm at work. Then once she found some she really liked she would have me go back and check them out later. So her first day out she found a house she fell in love with, she looked at a couple more the next day, but none of them stood out to her as much as the one from the first day.

So we went out and looked at the house together (on Friday Aug. 21st), and I also loved the house, so we decided to make an offer, and a couple hours later they accepted it!

We had the house inspected today, and the Inspector said the house is in terrific shape! The foundation is good, the air conditioner is 6 years old & in good shape, the water heater is 3 years old & also in good shape, and the roof is less than a year old. We took the opportunity to take some photos of the house to show it off!

11 Random Facts About Michael Guymon

Eleven years ago today my Mom, my brother Ethan, and I gathered around my Mom's bed to say a prayer before we left for school. When the prayer was over the phone rang, and my Mom answered to hear that my father had rejected the machine that was helping him breath and had suffered a heart attack but they were able to revive him and asked that she come to the hospital. My mom hung up the phone and gave us the news, and asked if we wanted to go with her or go ahead and go to school. I had made up my mind a few weeks earlier that I wanted to have only memories of my father awake and alive. So I chose to go to school and Ethan chose to go with my mom.

My last memory of my father was right after I got back from a trip to Utah to visit my brother. While I was gone, my dad began having more trouble breathing on his own and had to return to the hospital. When I arrived he was awake and in good spirits, I stood beside his bed staring at him laying in an uncomfortable bed in a crowded room with nothing but a small white curtain to provide him with some privacy. His face was covered with a plastic oxygen mask, to which I said something to the sound of, "I'm surprised they were able to get one of those masks custom made to fit over your BIG nose."

And we all stood around and laughed. Shortly after that we had to leave, and my father told me not to worry about him, and that he would be fine. He said he was feeling better, and doing better. He gave me a hug to which if I concentrate I can still feel to this day, and told me that he loved me and took hold of my hand and stared me in my eye and told me how happy he was to see me, and how happy he was that I came to visit him. The very next day he took a turn for the worse and had to be forced into a coma and placed on a machine which breathed for him.

By the time I got to my second class of the day, which was Art class, I walked through the door and placed my back pack down on my desk and pulled my chair out and was about to sit down when a lady came over to me and said I needed to go with her. We walked back through the door to the bright sunlight and when the door shut on the other side stood John Durnford (who was my bishop at the time) who started out by saying, "Shane, I'm sorry but..." and I knew exactly what had happened. Before I left for school my mother told me she would call and let me know if anything else happened....

In memory of that day here are 11 Random Facts & Memories About My Father, Michael Guymon

1.) My father tried hard to stop drinking caffeine, but he had difficulty giving up Cherry Coke, which he drank in the form of a fountain drink in a black Texaco cup on a daily basis. He began referring to Cherry Coke as "Cherry Water", because throughout his campaign to stop drinking caffeine he also tried his hardest to rally the rest of us to join him. So when he saw me drinking a coke, or worse yet a Mountain Dew, he would give me a hard time. I would then ask, "What are you drinking?" and he would say, "Oh this... This is just cherry water."

2.) My dad was obsessed about us leaving lights on in the house. He was constantly circling the house turning off lights we left on and he would say, "If I had a nickel for every light you guys left on..."

3.) Almost every night you could find my dad roaming the house in his underwear and a flash light making his way to the air conditioner to make sure it was set to 80 degrees. Anytime it wasn't we would ALL have to hear about it the following morning. If you happened to be sleeping on the couch while he was on his way he would lean over and shine the flash light directly in your face asking, "Who is that... Oh it's you Shane!"

4.) My dad was VERY cold natured one of the reasons he chose to hang his hat in south Texas. So year round he would wear a jacket, cowboy boots, and a cowboy hat.

5.) He refused to turn on the air conditioner in the car because he firmly believed that the air conditioner didn't function until the car was moving at a speed of 60 mph or higher. Boy was that fun when the entire family (8) piled into our Ford van for a trip in the middle of the Texas summer.

6.) Similar to Batman my dad wore what we all referred to as his "Utility Belt" which held just about anything and everything a normal person would NEVER need. Some of the items were a pocket knife, glasses, pens, keys, and who knows what else.

7.) Despite Michael Jordan's greatness next to his brother Jimmy, Jerry West remained the greatest player to ever throw a leather ball through a round metal rim.

8.) My first job was my dad paying me 2 cents a minute to tickle his head. It is looking like I might have to do that to finally get someone other than my Mom to tickle my back or head (thanks to Heather deceiving).

9.) Often times I had to make my dad a bowl of ice cream. The problem was my dad was very picky about his ice cream, and sometimes it would take me 3 or four times to get it right. He loved Bluebell chocolate ice cream covered in a lake of Hershey's chocolate syrup. However the ice cream had to be somewhat melted as well. So I would scoop the ice cream out, then pour chocolate syrup over it and carry it over to him to find out if I had enough chocolate syrup or not, and to see if the ice cream was melted enough.

10.) He had a recurring nightmare that he once shared with us, that he would be playing basketball and standing at the free throw line in the middle of a game with tons of fans in the crowd. He would throw the ball as hard as he could towards the basket and it would barely reach the dotted line in the middle of the paint.

11.) My dad was a very quiet guy. He mostly kept to himself. For example, when we would eat out as a family as soon as he was finished with his food he would head straight to the car to wait for us. Even at home, whenever we ate together as a family as soon as he was finished with his food, he would head straight back to his room, regardless if it was just the family, or if company was over eating with us. If we went to a wedding reception or other get together you could always find my dad sitting all alone in the corner out of site.

Hannah Can Swim

Hannah finally got brave enough to swim around in the pool with a flotation device, which was REALLY exciting for us, because I really want her to learn how to swim with as much time as we spend in the pool during the summer.

4th of July

We made the hop, skip, & jump on down to San Antonio to meet up with Mom (Grandma), Mark, Maile, Marissa, Michaela, Matt, & Ethan for some good ol' family FUN time! I made sure to remember our camera and even better I actually captured some great memories.

Other than Ethan grilling up some killer steaks, making a trip to Walmart, and a bargain hunting trip to Big Lots with Mark it was just good ol family time spent indoors. We did try to make a trip to the park but the girls only lasted about 20 minutes. After 5 minutes they were asking to leave saying, "It's hot & we've been here for FOREVER!"

Enjoy™

25 Random Things About Me!

I've been tagged multiple times and kept putting it off but I'm finally falling victom of peer preasure...

1.) I prefer drinking flat sodas, & when I go to a restaurant I order my drinks without ice, & I LOVE Fountain drinks (without ice).

2.) I LOVE my job and NEVER dread going to work. (and I'm proud to say I designed the website for the company I work for).

3.) I HATE Internet Explorer (especially IE6) & hope that everyone reading this using internet explorer will download Firefox today!

4.) I love Pizza but take all the toppings (sometimes I eat them separate) and eat just the bread and sauce.

5.) I HATE mayo and am not a huge fan of ketchup, mustard, or any special sauces. I order all of my burgers DRY. It was always funny in high school when we would have far away games and the basketball team would go get food, they would always have to make one special order for me, and I was always made fun of for it, but my burger seemed to always be hot while everyone else's was cold...

6.) Growing up all I cared about was succeeding in basketball and I sat the bench my entire senior year and only played garbage minutes on varsity.

7.) I was awarded a letterman jacket but I have NEVER worn it, not once. (They didn't give it to me until the summer after I had already graduated. It's still hanging up in my closet).

8.) I can't eat food without lights being on.

9.) I love to watch basketball and rarely miss any televised game (college, high school, or NBA), and thankfully my wonderful wife puts up with it all, and has our entire marriage.

10.) I met my wife in a chatroom. (Yes it's because I'm a shy little nerd who is too scared to talk to girls).

11.) For the past two years I have worn a pair of red socks EVERY Friday and have officially renamed "Friday" to "FUN-day" at work.

12.) I am a self proclaimed "Amateur Musicologist"

13.) I wear a pair of basketball shorts under ALL of my clothes at ALL times (because you never know when there will be an opportunity to play).

14.) I LOVE FONTS & Typography in general!

15.) A majority of my emails end with "Enjoy™" (which I un-officially trademarked).

16.) My favorite food is Potatoe (I love it, fried, baked, scalloped, boiled, mashed, diced, sliced, in a soup, salad, and pretty much anyway and any how).

17.) My name is Shane Michael Guymon at least thats what it says on my birth certificate, and Drivers License. My mom has been heard calling me Shaney. When I was younger I used to ask her to call me her little Darling. My sister refered to me as "It" and "squeeky bones." My brother Mark called me splean, until the next time I saw him and everyone he knew including himself were calling me Skillz (I couldn't help but suppose there was some sort of "sarcasm" behind it all)! Next thing I knew my brother Matt flipped that into Spillz, which caught on well enough that this kid named Chris Capps called me that on the way home from Basketball practice, but he wasn't to happy when I called him "Pissin Craps" after that. In Brazil I became a "Greengo" either that or some other mis-pronunciation of my last name. I grew up a loser striving to become a winner. In Jr. High BJ Pratt called me the "White Somalian." In High School he started sayin Shane "The Main Man" Guymon. Mexicans (hispanics) call me Chain. Then that reminds me of all the times Matt called me Stain. A few people through my life have called me a Nerd. A few other people have refered to me as a Friend. Through my life I have grown accustomed to responding to the name Shawn. I even turn my head when people call out the name Matt (since all my life people have thought we were twins). So I guess if I was to introduce myself I would say you can go ahead and start off by calling me Shane, then you can move on from there...

18.) My life has become a constant battle of trying to gain full control over myself, appetites, passions, and emotions. To which I have started referring to life as "The Beautiful Struggle."

19.) I NEVER cuss not even when I'm angry. The worst words I say are "hell" and "damn" and those are very few and far in between.

20.) Movies are my biggest weakness. I LOVE them all!

21.) The two things that have impacted my life the most are, my dad's death when I was 17 (my senior year) and the birth of my daughter Hannah.

22.) I still sit in my moms lap when i go home to see her.

23.) I've always wanted to write a book, direct a movie, and be a photographer.

24.) My dad wanted all of his kids to have dark hair and brown eyes, and I am the only one who listened.

25.) I'm afraid of heights, roaches (and many other bugs), spiders, snakes, rats, & swimming in any body of water that isn't filled with chlorine and other chemicals (rivers, lakes, ponds, or the ocean).


**BONUS**
26.) I drove around for a week with a dead rat in my car and didn't figure it out until I finally took it into the shop thinking there was something wrong with my air conditioner (the only time I could smell it was when the air conditioner was turned on). I picked the rat up visiting my wife in Buna before we got married. Meaning I drove 5 hours home with it up in my car. On the way home was when I first started smelling it.

27.) My dad used to pay me 2 cents an hour to tickle his head.

28.) Almost every night my mom would be tickling my dad's back, arm or head. When I would try to come lay-down and get in on the back tickling action, my dad would tell me to go find my own girl to tickle my back and then marry here. So I spent the rest of my life looking for that girl, and Heather tricked me into believing it was her, but as soon as we got married all the tickling has ceased. Now my only hope is to con my daughter Hannah into tickling my back for 2 cents a minute.

How Michael "Santa Clause" Jordan Saved Christmas

Christmas of 1999, I was a senior in high school, and I spent a lot of time with a family, originally from Utah. We would play basketball together, watch basketball together, and we would constantly talk trash back and forth about basketball. Me being a Jordan disciple, and he being a die hard Utah Jazz fan we were able to have some very interesting discussions. So seeing as how Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls dominated the 90's, he received the brunt of my creative trash talking abilities. So when Christmas came around, the year after Jordan beat the Jazz to win their 6th championship. He invited me to his house for a little get together, I decided to write up a nice little Christmas poem as a special token of our friendship, as his family was about to move back to Utah. I recently discovered this masterpiece in a dusty box of memories in my closet.

I looked outside on a cold winter day
and everyone was happy I could say
It was December six,
all the good boys were out collecting sticks,
for a nice fire.
But in the mountains there lived an evil sire,
who went by the name of Karl Malone.
He had a face and a heart of stone.
Destroying Christmas was his only wish,
but Michael "Santa Clause" Jordan, well all his shots went swish.

Now Jordan and his little elves have kept Christmas for five years
so there were no children to shed any tears.
But Karl Malone
wanted to hear the children moan.
So once again they did meat for that sacred prize
to put happiness or sadness in the children's eyes.

In game one Jordan hit fifty.
The kids thought that was quite nifty.
Game two he rang in sixty three
The children all screamed yippee!
Karl Malone did steal game three
The children wondered, "How could it be?"
He repeated his rage in game number four,
but in game five Jordan did soar
he even dunked it on Karl Malones head
which put all the children safely to bed.

Now if Jordan put it away in game six
Christmas would again be safely fixed.
However in game six Malone put up quite a battle
one after one his shots went in with a rattle.

With only minutes to spare there was little hope
The children began to mope,
but wait! Jordan comes from behind to get the steal,
Malone thought, "This can't be real."
Seconds there were but a few.
Jordan hesitated before he took off to fly,
as he dunks it in Karl Malones eye.

Yes Jordan did soar,
and the crowd did indeed roar
Christmas once again came
and Malone still had no game
and all the Bulls fans got presents,
but coal went to all the silly Jazz peasants.

Schedule

I've started to notice that my days have become recognisable to me by what shows I watch that paticular day. Has this happened to anyone else? Is it an epidemic? Should I be afraid? What side effects are involved? These are all questions running through my mind.


This is what I mean:

MONDAY: How I Met Your Mother, & Big Bang Theory
TUESDAY: Fringe (more details coming soon), Greek, & 90210 (What? Why?)
WEDNESDAY: Pushing Daisies (My ALL time favorite show on TV), & I go play basketball from 9:00 - 11:30
THURSDAY: The Office, 30 Rock, & Always Sunny In Philadelphia
FRIDAY: Nothing, usually a day I throw a movie into the mix
SATURDAY: Nothing, usually a day I throw a movie into the mix, or just spend time with Family & Friends
SUNDAY: Football, The Simpsons, Family Guy, & Mad Men (The show I mostly look forward to on Sunday)

Pink

pink, slightly swollen, throbbing with pain, itchy, and a fair amount of gunk was the condition of my left eye at around 3:30 am when I awoke and then was unable to get back to sleep until after I accidently woke Heather up in what was seeming to be an endless search for the eye drop medication in hopes of bringing myself some sort of temporary relief for the remainder of the night. I finally fell back asleep around 5:30 or 6:00.

To all the irresponsible parents out there who allow their children who are infected with such highly contagious diseases like pink eye, please don't allow them to go swimming in the community pool at your apartment complex, or jump and hang from the necks of friendly neighbors such as myself, and then at the end of the night casually mention that your child has pink eye.

KEEP YOUR KIDS WITH CONTAGIOUS DISEASES TO YOURSELF!

Especially since this is the second time this week that it has happened, and from two different kids.

Since I try to remain as positive as possible and being that today was FUNday, I have to add that my day was spent in bed watching season 1 of Arrested Development (Thanks Amanda), which in all reality no one can consider that a BAD day now can they?

The Man

I meant to post something yesterday but got caught up in the day to day activities. Yesterday marked the 10th year that my dad Michael Guymon passed away. It's funny how the memory of that day sits on my mind as if it was yesterday. I can remember how the sky was partly cloudy, but the sun was shining bright in an almost insulting manner. The day, since then hasn't really been a memorable day. In the sense that I treat it as any other day. I suppose I feel like that's what he would want me to do. He stays fresh on my mind on a daily basis anyways. I frequently have vivid dreams about him. Some where I know he is dead and everything remains the same, and I even ask him in the dream about where he has been, and catching him up on things in my life. I have others where it is as if he never did die. I can still remember small details like exactly how it feels to hug my father...

I can't believe it has been 10 years.

I had planned on doing one of three things in memory of The Man:
1.) Drink a cherry coke fountain drink
2.) Drink a chocolate malt
3.) Eat a banana split

Sadly none of the three happened. It was a refreshing day though. When I say that I don't mean to sound as if something extraordinary occurred, but rather I just got caught up in the daily grind of life. I went to work came home (realized I left my cell phone at work) filled a cup full of Mountain Dew went out to the pool with Hannah, & Heather. I read an interesting article in a HOW magazine as Hannah swam. She kept filling this small little toy milk jug with water and bringing it to me to pretend to drink it, and she would giggle. Heather and I enjoyed one anothers company and just had small talk as Hannah played in the pool. We then went inside gave Hannah a bath and Heather left to attend a meeting for church, and I stayed home and kicked it with Hannah solo. I was watching the olympics as Hannah informed me that she needed to get ready for her ballet class. So she brought me her ballerina skirt, and then her "matching" shirt, and then she found her sparkly pink shoes and fluffy white socks. I helped her get ready and she kissed me good bye and off she went on her scooter to her room where she shut her bedroom door. A few minutes later she returned announcing, "I'M BACK!" She continued to run back and forth from her bedroom to me to announce different things until 9:30 rolled around and I decided she needed to go to bed. So we said a prayer (she said it) and off she went to bed where she played until Heather got home after 10:00. I don't think she went to bed until after 10:30 and I stayed up playing on the computer doing some design stuff. I went to bed around 11:30 or 12:00.

In some ways I feel like that is some what insulting to my father, in others I feel like that is how he would want it to be. I think I should of at least crossed one of those three items off my list though.

Brown Eyes

As I am leaving home to go to work this morning, I am making my way from the bedroom where I gave Hannah a hug told her I loved her, and that I was going to work. I then made my way around the bed and extended a hug and kiss to Heather as well. I walk out of the bedroom and make my way to the kitchen with Hannah trotting almost fluttering behind me dressed in her baby blue Cinderella princess gown. I grab a plastic bag full of leftovers from the fridge and I give Hannah one last hug and kiss, and she tells me she is going to wait there for me to leave. I tell her I will see her later and open the door and walk out and right before the door closes I hear her shout, "I love your brown eyes!"

So I chuckle and open the door quickly to see no one standing in the doorway anymore, but I yell back, "I love your beautiful blue eyes."

Then I hear her say, "Thank you!"

Then with a smile on my face I make my way to my car and venture to work. I think it's going to be a great Monday today!

First Day of My Life

For Moms Day I made a mix CD for Heather with a custom designed CD case. So anyways one of the songs I selected was a Bright Eyes song called "First Day of My Life" and it turns out this song has like the perfect words to describe a relationship it says:

"So if you want to be with me
With these things there’s no telling
We just have to wait and see
But I’d rather be working for a paycheck
Than waiting to win the lottery"

I suppose because a relationship is work, it's compromise, and it's sacrifices. I swear their are far too many people in the world that seem to have the "Waiting to win the lottery" mindset, and it's funny, so when it's worded the way he says it, it's so perfect and simple, "I'd rather be working for a paycheck." I've always been confused with people who seem to date for a year or more, it seems to me you should be engaged and if you aren't ready for that, then you probably NEVER will. So it's past time to move on to the next person, and keep waiting for that "lottery" of a person to drop into your life. (of course this is speaking about people who are out of highschool already...)

Anyways the whole song is good, and beautiful, just those lines REALLY stood out to me this week.

Quite the Imagination

So Saturday morning I am laying on the couch with Hannah laying beside me. I'm watching TV and Hannah is munching away on a strawberry pop-tart when all of a sudden I start to here Hannah having a conversation with her pop-tart that went something like this.

Hannah: "Mmmmm, Armf! Armf! Armf!" (that is chomping sounds by the way.)
Pop-tart (In a higher pitched voice): "No! Don't eat me!" as her little hand shakes the pop tart from side to side.
Hannah: "Mmmmm, Armf! Armf! Armf!"

Hannah has been doing really good with her potty training. You might even be able to say that she is already trained. A funny thing we noticed this weekend is whenever I'm around she yells for me to come into the bathroom and sit on the edge of the tub beside her and she talks to me the whole time she is peeing or pooping. However if Heather is around and tries to walk in on her in the bathroom she yells at her saying, "NOOOO! Go check your e-mial!"

It's the funniest thing in the world, she did it again in the middle of the night last night before she went to sleep, and she yelled from her room that she had to go pee, so Heather went to get her out of bed and stuck her head into the bathroom and that is what Hannah yelled to her, and everytime Heather would peek back in the door to check up on her she would repeat the same command.

Hannah has done so well that although we put a pull up on her when she takes a nap and goes down for the night she continuously wakes up dry as can be.

So let's get some Hi-Fives all around for Hannah! (A virtual Hi-Five can be given by way of a comment if you so chose.)

Sometimes

"There’s a mouse in the cupboard that nibbles your crumbs
And you talk to him every night
You say, “Hey, Mr. Whiskers, I’m bored and I’m numb
You can stay if you just treat me right.”
Just last year you were fortunate baby
And your friends circled around you in groves
Are they thinking of you? Maybe just maybe
But not a one has bothered to phone
Tell me where oh where did they go"

"When your family calls you make nice to them all
And assure them you’re fine and you’re great
Then you cry in the bath, cry so hard that you laugh
Then you watch television til late
Who do you need? Nobody.
You’re lucky nobody’s around
I can pour my own drinks
No thanks, Mister. Go on, and get out of town..."

Sometimes I wonder if this song was written about me, sometimes I wonder if I have any friends, the friends I do have I often wonder if they even really like me, or just tolerate me when I randomly call them, or grace them with my presence. I don't really have anyone I hang out with, and I haven't for quite some time now.

Sometimes I wonder if you really need friends? Perhaps these thoughts are me trying to justify my coolness and convince myself that friends don't define cool (meaning the more friends you have, the cooler you are). Sometimes I can't blame people for not wanting to be around me. Sometimes I think that as long as Hannah wants to kick it with me, then I am good to go.

Sometimes I wonder if anyone even reads my blog. Sometimes I wonder if it even matters if anyone reads my blog.

Sometimes I wonder...

(Song is by Bishop Allen and the title is "The News From Your Bed")

Nice Shirt

I'm laying down on my side her nose is two inches or so from mine. I can feel the air when she breathes, though she is breathing softly. Her arm is extended and I am tickling it softly as we are laying in bed in the dark. The room is only lit by a small Disney Princess night light. When her little finger extends to touch my shirt and she says, "I like your shirt. Did you where that to work?

So I told her thank you and proceeded to lay with her tickling her arm for a little while before she went to bed. She talked about a few other things as well. I thought that was so funny and random though. Infact a few minutes later she told me she liked my shirt again.

I'm A Pony! I'm A Pony!

Here's a friendly little photo of me and Hannah playing ride the horsey. this was the game Hannah wanted to play with me on Christmas eve. Somehow Heather managed to grab the camera and sneak in a few photos of us in action. Then proceeded to make fun of me for how "into it" I was. What that means is that if sound could be attached to a photo you would hear my weak attempt at mimicking a horse, while Hannah pulled back on my shirt and likewise made horsey sounds.

Anyways the real reason to show the photo is to let you know that this image and many many many many more have recently been uploaded to my Flickr account, so feel free to see exactly how our Christmas went. (Yeah I know I'm a little late with uploading these photos...)

Click the image above or here to see the rest of the Christmas photos.

Frustration

I HATE Internet Explorer, and Microsoft which specifically means Bill Gates. Seeing as how Microsoft and Bill Gates are the reason that the majority of people use Internet Explorer, not necessarily as a choice but more out of laziness and convenience. You buy your computer and Internet Explorer is already on the computer with your nifty little buggy Windows operating system. You click on the icon and it opens up and appears to work sufficiently. Mean while the web designers in the world are having to spend too many hours trying to get their websites to behave the way they do in EVERY other browser known to man, but for some retarded reason it won't work in Internet Explorer 5 & 6. I'm not really sure why this should even be a problem since Internet Explorer has already been readily available for free to the world for a couple of years now. Internet Explorer is set to be released sometime this year or in the near future, but for some reason their is a large quantity of people who still use an in adequate browser.

The other question is why every other company that designs browsers has created a browser that reads and interprets code the way the code is written. It is only Internet Explorer that decides to interpret the code differently, and decides to ignore different aspects of code, which forces web designers to come up with all types of tricks and shenanigans to make the browser understand and cooperate.

So this humble message from a young frustrated soul goes out to the vast and infinite abyss of the world wide web, that everyone viewing this post at this time, if you are viewing it with internet explorer please follow this link to enlightenment and together we can eradicate this horrible disease that has been plaguing our computers.

CLICK HERE TO HELP SAVE A WEB DESIGNER TODAY

Back In The Day

The other day I found this great treasure on YouTube. My brothers and I used to watch this show ALL the time on Nickelodeon back in the day. I wish they still had shows like this on Nickelodeon. Anyways there are actually three of these videos and I don't feel like posting all three. so if you want just click on the link below and then you should be able to find the other two and be able to watch the entire episode.

Enjoy

Leave a comment if you also were a fan of You Can't Do That On Television.